Re: Air Battles over the Baltic 1941: The Air War on 22 June 1941 - The Battle for Stalin's Baltic Region

It has a hefty price on Amazon USA: $79.95 (£59.55). Timin has written numerous articles (37 in all, I think) of which 6 have been translated and published in Flypast. He's a good researcher with almost unparalleled access to the Russian Ministry of Defense Archives in Podolsk, and so far his material consistently reveals never-seen-before information yet spares the reader the old Soviet distortion of events and disinformation. One word of caution: he is an ardent Russian nationalist who paints the Russians as the true heros of World War II.

Re: Air Battles over the Baltic 1941: The Air War on 22 June 1941 - The Battle for Stalin's Baltic Region

I have translated a lot of his articles for my own reading enjoyment and he does a really good job of research. I have on occasion read material that he has presented on German aces confirming kills that when unconfirmed during the war. On other occasions I found things that I found a different conclusion for then he did. He is probably the best author for the air war on the Eastern Front for 1941 and is fair in his assessment from what I have read.

Re: Air Battles over the Baltic 1941: The Air War on 22 June 1941 - The Battle for Stalin's Baltic Region

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

He's a good researcher with almost unparalleled access to the Russian Ministry of Defense Archives in Podolsk, and so far his material consistently reveals never-seen-before information yet spares the reader the old Soviet distortion of events and disinformation.

Larry, I am genuinely glad that you are passing on the news about Timin

I am not entirely sure that Timin's six FlyPast articles are fully identical to his Russian language articles on the same topics that are available online, at http://warspot.ru/users/187-timin-mihail/published . Be careful when using that website, I have had repeated warnings from my antivirus software.

Timin has also published articles in the Russian official magazine Aviatsiya i Kosmonavtika (Aviation and Space) and the French Avions. He first addressed the topic of Soviet air operations over the Baltics in 1941 in two issues of the now defunct Russian language magazine called aviAPark (Air Park), back in 2010. This means he has been labouring at this research for many years, so the final product should be very interesting. Having said this, I am not confident that the current listed price is justified, as you implied, Larry.

Timin has been associated for a while with Dmitry Puchkov (who uses the nickname Goblin), a most unpleasant Russian nationalist. Specifically, Timin presents discussions about the Second World War on a YouTube channel called TacticMedia, see https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr...JNSiPnw/videos . This channel comes under the auspices of oper.ru, Puchkov's website.

Some of these videos are also advertised on Puchkov's own YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/Fletcher2008/videos .

Puchkov doesn't hide his hatred of the United States and Ukraine. The Ukrainians have gone so far as to ban his writings as political incitement:https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-pol...ian-books.html . This does not necessarily have a direct bearing on Timin's work, but it is worth being aware of this context.

Re: Air Battles over the Baltic 1941: The Air War on 22 June 1941 - The Battle for Stalin's Baltic Region

Thank you, Dan, for completing this portrait of Timin. I did not want to take the liberty of including the details that your very capable and thorough research uncovered on Mr. T. and subsequently shared with me. It all helps our fellow researchers and historians who lack Russian obtain a clearer picture of this author. That he hates my country and people goes without saying. After all, everyone does including the 50% of the American population who are younger than 37.

Re: Air Battles over the Baltic 1941: The Air War on 22 June 1941 - The Battle for Stalin's Baltic Region

That's interesting. There's always authors and researchers who never miss a derogatory comment on ennemy or "allies" but it seems there's often a bias from author studying the Eastern Front (on Axis Air Forces or Soviet Air Forces), more than on other fronts. But as long as it never go to falsified data or something like that and just portray "the Russians as the true heros of World War II" I would be ok with that. But I do not intend to buy it, the book is too expensive now.

Re: Air Battles over the Baltic 1941: The Air War on 22 June 1941 - The Battle for Stalin's Baltic Region

Hi Alfred -

It's almost certainly the cost of translating this hefty book along with all of the photos, table, colored maps and profiles in color that make this book so expensive. Helion's website shows 200 - 224 titles and nearly all of those that are hefty, required translating and have numerous photos, maps, charts, tables, etc., are in this same price range.

AIR BATTLES OVER THE BALTIC 1941. THE AIR WAR ON 22 JUNE 1941 - THE BATTLE FOR STALIN'S BALTIC REGIONThis title has not yet been published. Pre-order today, your card will not be charged until the book ships
Helion & Company 15th May 2018 Hardback 245mm x 170mm 528 pages 500 photos, 28 tables, 14 colour maps, 111 colour aircraft profiles